JUNO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The veterinary staff at a Florida sea turtle hospital is getting help from space to monitor the animals they have rehabilitated. They're particularly interested in amputees.
Using satellite tracking devices in a collaboration between the Loggerhead Marinelife Center and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, scientists are learning how well sea turtles can survive in the wild after losing a limb.
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Justin Perrault, left, and Sarah Hirsch attach a satellite tracking device to an adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, Fla. on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
Spectators watch as an adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle is released into the Atlantic Ocean after rehabilitation in Juno Beach, Fla. on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
An adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle is seen swimming in a tank at Loggerhead Marinelife Center after a satellite tracking device was attached to its shell in Juno Beach, Fla. on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
A rehabilitated adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle crawls toward the ocean during a release in Juno Beach, Fla. on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
Amelie, a Kemp's ridley sea turtle who lost her right forelimb to a predator — most likely a shark, the center said — was taken to the beach on Wednesday for her highly anticipated release. The turtle paused for about 30 seconds, then slowly made her way into the Atlantic Ocean as onlookers cheered.
Amelie had been rescued and brought to the center by the Inwater Research Group in Port St. Lucie, Florida, seven weeks earlier after a traumatic amputation. She underwent surgery to clean and close the wound, and was treated for pneumonia while in a tank at the center. When veterinarians deemed her healthy enough to return to the sea, they glued a tracking device to her shell.
An ultrasound confirmed that Amelie is developing eggs, giving researchers another reason to track her movements.
Kemp's ridley turtles, the rarest of sea turtle species, are more typically found on Florida's Gulf Coast, so treating Amelie was especially significant, said Andy Dehart, the center's president and CEO.
Amelie is actually the fourth amputee sea turtle being tracked by the enter, Loggerhead research director Sarah Hirsch said. They include a three-limbed turtle named Pyari who has traveled nearly 700 miles since her release in January, her tracker shows.
“We do know that they can be successful in the wild because we have seen them on our nesting beaches, but we really want to understand their dive behaviors, how they’re migrating once they’re back in the wild," Hirsch said.
The satellite tags have a saltwater switch that detects when the turtle comes up to the surface to breathe, triggering the transmission of data to the satellites. Their location appears online after a 24-hour delay. To view Amelie and other turtles tracked for various research projects, visit the Loggerhead website.
“They’ve been through a lot," Hirsch said. "They’ve gotten a lot of medical care here, and to see them be able to go back out and contribute to the population is really rewarding.”
To view Amelie and other turtles tracked for various research projects, visit the Loggerhead website.
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Frisaro reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Justin Perrault, left, and Sarah Hirsch attach a satellite tracking device to an adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, Fla. on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
Spectators watch as an adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle is released into the Atlantic Ocean after rehabilitation in Juno Beach, Fla. on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
An adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle is seen swimming in a tank at Loggerhead Marinelife Center after a satellite tracking device was attached to its shell in Juno Beach, Fla. on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
A rehabilitated adult female Kemp's ridley sea turtle crawls toward the ocean during a release in Juno Beach, Fla. on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that a deal to end the Iran war is near, after Tehran dismissed his 15-point ceasefire plan and issued its own sweeping demands to stop fighting as it launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries.
Two officials from Pakistan described the 15-point U.S. proposal broadly, saying it included sanctions relief, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, limits on missiles and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is normally shipped.
Iran issued its own plan via state TV, which includes a halt to killings of its officials, means to make sure no other war is waged against it, reparations for the war, the end of hostilities, and Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
“No negotiations have happened with the enemy until now, and we do not plan on any negotiations,” Iran’s foreign minister later told state TV.
Trump insisted at a Republican fundraiser Wednesday night that talks were underway with Iran's leaders.
“They are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they’re afraid to say it because they figure they’ll be killed by their own people,” Trump said.
The death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, nearly 1,100 people in Lebanon, 20 in Israel and 13 U.S. military members, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
Here is the latest:
Australia has temporarily restricted some Iranians from traveling to the country for fear that they would be unwilling or unable to return to their homeland because of the war.
The restrictions apply from Thursday for six months to Iranian Visitor (Subclass 600) visa holders.
These visas have been issued to more than 7,000 Iranians who intend to visit Australia for tourism, business or to see family.
“When you get a sudden conflict like has happened with Iran, who have a large number of people who’ve been issued visas who, if they applied now, would in fact not be eligible,” Immigration Minister Tony Burke told Parliament on Thursday.
Authorities will use the six months to reassess visa applicants. An unknown number will be exempt.
Activists in Iran reported heavy strikes early Thursday morning around Isfahan, a city some 330 kilometers (205 miles) south of Iran’s capital, Tehran.
The pro-reform newspaper Ham Mihan reported online about strikes in the area.
Isfahan is home to a major Iranian air base and other military sites, as well as one of the nuclear sites bombed by the United States during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June.
The semiofficial Fars news agency, close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, described the attacks as targeting “two residential areas,” without elaborating.
Earlier, Israel’s military said it had completed “a wide-scale wave of strikes” across Iran, including in Isfahan.
A missile alert sounded on mobile phones in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Thursday morning.
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted multiple drones over its oil-rich Eastern Province on Thursday morning.
Kuwait reported it was working to intercept incoming Iranian fire early Thursday morning.
Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens early Thursday morning.
The United Arab Emirates air defenses early Thursday also worked to intercept incoming fire.
U.S. forces have hit more than 10,000 targets so far in the Iran war, the head of the American military’s Central Command said.
U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper made the comments in a video released early Thursday by Central Command.
“If you combine what we’ve accomplished with the success of our Israeli ally, together, we have struck thousands more,” Cooper said. “Our precision strikes have overwhelmed Iranian air defenses and our combat flights are having tangible effects.”
Cooper added that the U.S. has destroyed 92% of “the Iranian navy’s largest vessels.”
“They’ve now lost the ability to meaningly project naval power and influence around the region and around the world,” Cooper said.
Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through drone and missile attacks on shipping, however.
Cooper also said the U.S. has struck over two-thirds of Iran’s munitions plants.
“Today, we have damaged or destroyed over two-thirds of Iran’s missile, drone and naval production facilities and shipyards — and we’re not done yet,” he said. “We are on a path to completely eliminate Iran’s wider military manufacturing apparatus.”
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press, though delayed by two weeks by Planet Labs PBC, have shown Israeli and U.S. strikes targeting shipyards and missile facilities.
Iran has not acknowledged any of its materiel losses through the war.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius described the Iran war as an economic “catastrophe” and said Germany did not want to get “sucked into” the conflict.
Pistorius said on Thursday Germany was ready to help secure any peace once that was achieved and appealed for a ceasefire as soon as possible.
“To make it crystal clear, this war is a catastrophe for the world’s economies,” Pistorius told reporters at the Australian Parliament House.
“From the beginning on, we have not been consulted before. Nobody asked us before. It’s not our war and therefore we don’t want to get sucked into that war,” Pistorius added.
Pistorius addressed the media in the national capital Canberra following a meeting with his Australian counterpart Richard Marles.
People take cover in a bomb shelter as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missile strikes in Bnei Brak, Israel, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Smoke and flames rise following an Israeli military strike on a target in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March, 25, 2026.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Members of the displaced Abd el-Hajj family, and two of their cousins, right, who fled Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, sit inside a tent used as a shelter in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Members of a family, who fled Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, sit around a bonfire outside a tent used as a shelter in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Pro-government supporters chant slogans and wave Iranian flags during a rally, in a square in western Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
